Thursday, January 2 - Revelation 16

JUST JUDGMENTS

As the successive judgments upon mankind spiral down toward the end, we are again reminded of the great plagues that God inflicted upon the nation and people of Egypt.   Prominent images that remind us of these plagues are the sea turning to blood, consuming darkness, spirits that look like frogs, and thunderous hail.  The scorching heat/consuming fire, and the great earthquake that splits the earth are reminiscent of God's judgments on some unfaithful Israelites who rebelled against Him (and Moses) while in the wilderness.

A refrain throughout the chapter is that these judgments are just and have been brought on by mankind's persistent hard-heartedness and rejection of God's generosity.  Just as a time bomb eventually explodes, so also the evil of mankind leads the earth toward destruction and its people into suffering.

But God's people rejoice that the earth is being freed from the evils that have consumed it -- that the world will be released from the chains that have taken it captive.  This will be God's victory, and it will surely come.

And he who trusts in Christ will be preserved and rescued -- even as many of the plagues affected only the people of Egypt (and not the Israelites), so also will God's grace prevail in the lives of His people.

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CHAPTER 16

The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath

  Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

² The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land,and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
³ The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.
⁴ The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. ⁵ Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:

“You are just in these judgments, O Holy One,
    you who are and who were;
⁶ for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets,
    and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”

⁷ And I heard the altar respond:

“Yes, Lord God Almighty,
    true and just are your judgments.”

⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. ⁹ They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God,who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.

¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony ¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.
¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. ¹³ Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴ They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

¹⁵ “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

¹⁶ Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” ¹⁸ Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. ¹⁹ The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. ²⁰ Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. ²¹ From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.